IN THE MOOD

OLAS 440 16th August 2008

We’ve just come back from two weeks camping in Belgium and Luxembourg and during that time I managed to stay away from the computer completely and ignore all the crazy transfer speculation. Avoiding any internet cafes, I was concentrating on the things that matter – fresh air, beautiful scenery, sunsets, great beer and an endless supply of frites.

It was hard, though, trying to shut down totally on what might be happening at Upton Park. One night I even found myself dreaming about being at the ground and feeling startled and disturbed that I didn’t recognise a soul on the pitch. (Though, to be fair, I’ve seen several games where the players don’t seem to recognise each other either.) On the way back to England I succumbed and couldn’t resist buying an English newspaper and was amused to read: “Thatcher Booed at West Ham”. It sounds like plans for the state funeral are proceeding apace, and down at Upton Park we’re already getting well in the mood!

It brought to my mind the joke about the guy, back in the 1980s, sentenced to death but given a last request.
He said “I’d really like it if my ashes could be placed next to Maggie Thatcher’s ashes.”
“But she’s not dead yet” came the reply.
“It’s OK,” he said, “I can wait…”

Well I’m certainly in the mood for the new season, trying my best to shake off every ounce of negativity from last year with as much vigour as Deano is trying to shed those pounds. What a crap season that was. It was all over by January and I reckon I saw three good games the whole year. I felt like I was walking around with “MUG” tattooed on my forehead the day I renewed my season ticket…but hey, that’s what makes us West Ham!

This year, I really want to believe that we are going to move forward, we’ll see some great attacking football at Upton Park, go as far as we can in the cups and push for a European place. And along the way, a new crop of youngsters will emerge at the heart of the team. Interesting that what little transfer activity we have been involved in has seen three youngsters come in – Behrami, Eyjolfsson and Bajner whose combined ages don’t add up to much more than mine. If this signals a desire to buy young and build for the future rather than buy over the hill and build for the past – then good. Let’s have more of it. But the news that we are even considering Ben Thatcher suggests that this new progressive mindset has not been firmly established yet.

I once read that (Ben) Thatcher suffers from Tourette’s Syndrome and can’t help shouting out all kinds of expletives. In his Wimbledon days he apparently turned down a potential appearance on a children’s TV programme because of this disability. Tourettes is still a mystery to the medical profession. Fucking tossers! But the strange thing is that when I read we were giving Thatcher a trial I let out an uncontrolled stream of expletives too. It really is that contagious.

Of the coming and goings through Upton Park’s revolving door I’m genuinely saddened to see Bobby Z and John Paintsil go - to Fulham. I’m not at all sorry to see the fabulously wealthy and fabulously lazy Freddie swanning off. But it sounds like the club got the worst of all worlds – he hardly played any games and we have had to pay shedloads of cash to end his contract and take him off the weekly wage bill.

What worries me, though, are those that are still the wrong side of that revolving door – especially Rigor Mortis, Muggins and Lee Bonehead. And what irks me are the ones that got away. We’ve been linked in the past with Nick Shorey, Steve Sidwell and Luke Young and now they’ve all been snapped up by the other claret and blue – Aston Villa. Dave Kitson’s been nabbed by Stoke, Paschal Chimbonda by Sunderland and Luke Moore by West Brom. These are not top-notch players and the amounts they moved for were not huge, but they are a damn sight better than the deadwood we are still hanging on to. Even grabbing a couple of them would have strengthened our squad considerably.

At least the Fixture Fairy has been kind to us. Several of the first few games look winnable even without the players we missed out on and even with the injury problems we are still carrying. Not surprisingly Bellamy will miss those first few games. Call me cynical but I’m willing to bet a Mars bar, or even more, that he’ll be fit for Wales’ next international, then sidelined by injury for the next club fixture. The news about Dyer is of course even more dire, and, sad to say it, his career with us may be over before it has begun.

But however thin the current squad is on real quality I think the key factor is attitude and approach. We seem to have three main groups in the West Ham squad – The quality players, (Green, Upson, Ferdinand, Faubert, Parker, Noble, Ashton, Bellamy) the tryers (Cole, McCartney, Etherington, Sears, Tomkins, Reid) and the hopeless (Spector, Mullins, LBM, Bowyer). Over time Sears and Tomkins hopefully will move to the “quality” group. I’ve left out Lucas Neill who is in his own sub-group - QBCBA (Quality – But Can’t Be Arsed), and Behrami who I haven’t seen yet. Consistency, hunger to succeed, and high levels of fitness from our quality players, plus 100 per cent honest endeavour and positivity from the tryers can cover up the inadequacy of the hopeless and take us further than you can imagine.

Last season too many of our quality players under-performed, were frequently injured and unfit, and were stifled by a very defensive and conservative approach completely alien to West Ham’s footballing taditions. In our unexpected successes against big teams last season – Liverpool and Man U at home – we played with more freedom, and the quality players and the tryers managed to over-compensate for the total inadequates on the field.

I know some will say, “But where is the positivity and hunger going to come from, with Lucas in charge on the field and Curbs in charge off it?” Absolutely true. Unless Lucas Neill has a big change in attitude or one of the other quality players is handed the captaincy, and unless the players themselves resolve to play with freedom, commitment and fire for 90 minutes, despite Curbishley’s Charlton-style tactics, then we’re going to get found out. And we’ll be found out by some pretty small teams – like Wigwam on day one. Let’s hope I’m mistaken.

But speaking of pure quality, the Villareal friendly was held in honour of Bobby Moore on the 50th anniversary of his debut. And when I think about the dignity, style and skill with which Bobby led West Ham for so many years, and compare it with Lucas Neill’s lackadaisical attitude it makes me weep.

It was Bobby Moore who turned me onto West Ham in the first place. I loved the ‘66 world cup and that summer we moved from an area dominated by Spurs supporters (Palmers Green) to one dominated by West Ham (Leyton/Forest Gate). At the time I wasn’t committed to a particular club and quite liked Liverpool for some reason, but not long after we moved into our new flat and made friends with local kids they asked me and my brother to come to football with them at West Ham. I hadn’t been to a live football match before that, but was I ready! I was 8 years old and my heroes were Bobby Moore and Geoff Hurst.

Bobby Moore’s skill in walking the ball calmly out of chaos in the penalty area, week in, week out, was breathtaking and having done that he would often unleash an inch perfect 50-yard forward pass to set up an attack. He liked to come forward himself, too, and I saw him score a few goals, usually belters from direct free kicks 25 yards out.

He stood up to referees when necessary, not out of childishness but on principle when he thought he was right and they were wrong, and he always stole a few cheeky yards on free kicks. The referee would invariably pick up the ball and place it back a few yards but as he ran upfield again Bobby would push the ball forward behind the ref’s back and regain that advantage.

And he was not too up himself to sigh autographs and have that special bond with the youngest fans. I remember the day I got his autograph (and Geoff Hurst’s). Every Summer West Ham’s first team at football played a cricket game in Valentines Park, Ilford, against Ilford (amateur) Cricket Club. When West Ham were batting most of the team was lounging around in front of the pavilion drinking tea and you just went up to them and asked them for their autographs. They were really happy to sign and chat.

So Bobby Moore’s shirt – the number 6 – is now officially retired. But that doesn’t mean we have to put everything else from his era into retirement. His individual skill flourished in a team that was encouraged to play with flair and style and was totally committed to giving the fans what they wanted to see. His shirt is retired but let’s see his spirit return this year, starting this afternoon. Come On You Irons!!!